have you assessed your clients’ needs, or just provided what they asked for?
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rainmaker alert! the cloudy skies of 2020 show a good chance of precipitation.
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but praying for rain isn’t going to work. neither will a rain dance. the most effective action is often simply a matter of asking and offering.
a new survey of small and midsized businesses and their cpa firms finds that clients are generally willing to pay 50 percent or more for additional accounting-related advisory services … but only if their accounting firm offers them.
according to the new aicpa cpa.com survey:
- clients who do not receive advisory services pay their firms an average of $1,108 a month.
- those who buy advisory services pay 43 percent more, an average of $1,585 a month.
- those not receiving advisory services would expect to pay 50 percent more for a package that included such services.
- clients pay an average of $888 a month for tax prep and payroll services only.
- clients who pay for tax prep, payroll, and strategic advisory services pay 49 percent more, an average of $1,320 a month.
what companies desire most
this is not to say that all businesses want or need consulting, but a lot of them do. it’s a matter of what they need. asked what they would desire most,
- 65 percent said revenue growth and business modeling
- 46 percent said budgeting
- 38 percent said tax planning
- 38 percent said risk management
- 35 percent said advanced kpi reporting
- 32 percent said cash flow
- 32 percent said business valuation
- 27 percent said financial dashboards
- 27 percent said pricing
- 16 percent just wanted help with accounting workflow, job costing or plain old financial literacy
add it all up, and it’s a lot of rain. but how to make it fall?
the deal’s in the package. bundled services are very attractive to small and midsized businesses – but only if the bundle’s full of substance, not fluff.
clearly the potential’s out there. yet fewer than 40 percent of the surveyed business leaders reported that their accounting firms had conducted an assessment of their business and offered tailored recommendations.
the menu of potential new services is as long as the rainmaker’s imagination, the accounting firm’s capability and the client’s challenges. among the biggest challenges, expressed with intentional vagueness, are:
- all sorts of planning for growth
- all sorts of financial insight
- all sorts of ways to reduce overhead
- all sorts of ways to smooth or increase cash flow
- all sorts of ways to increase profit margins
- all sorts of compliance
- all sorts of efficiencies
- all sorts of ways to attract, retain and improve personnel
- all sorts of technologies
- all sorts of financial tracking and measurement
which of your clients’ challenges is within your firm’s capacities? maybe you need to ask. do you want rain? you need to give those clouds a shake.